je te connaissais
by OceanPenguin
Summary: She leaves. One day she's here, the next, she's gone. Ladybug leaves Paris and Chat Noir. A look at the aftermath from Adrien's perspective. Updates daily. COMPLETE.
1. Prologue

A/N: I've been working on this since April, and it's almost finished. I'm editing through the whole thing, maybe re-working some parts here and there, and then just posting a new chapter every Sunday. I can definitely promise frequent updates with this one.

Tell me what you think.

* * *

He sees a little black and red box sitting in the middle of the bed when he gets home from school on the first day and thinks that his father has finally remembers him, that his father cares, that his father hasn't left him like his mother did a year ago. He wonders what's in it. When a little black floating cat comes popping out and tells him to wear the ring, he does.

He's adorned with black cat ears, a tail, and a mask. He twirls, and a silver baton appears on his hip. He looks like a character from one of those animated cartoons he was never allowed to watch as a kid, and he thinks, I could be a superhero. So he goes out and tries to be one.

It's not easy the first time, and it doesn't get any easier afterwards. He learns how to jump, to roll, to go through the world with cat ears tucked in his back pocket and a flawless face in the front. He learns to let lies roll off his tongue, to keep his mask on more often than not. Sometimes, he thinks only knowing his partner makes it easier to lead the double life.

That comes later, though. During his first run, he's quivering with excitement and anticipation, not a single shard of fear in his body.

"I'm Chat Noir," he says, testing the phrase out on his tongue. Adrien rolls the noir as much as he can, trying to impress the girl in the spotted suit. She's the most beautiful thing he's ever seen. "You?"

"Ladybug," she says, smirking. She holds out her hand. "Nice to meet you."

They shake hands on a baton balanced across two buildings, and then fall off when one of them misplaces a foot. She saves them with her yo-yo, and he wonders if it's appropriate to ask for kiss when they're tangled up together. Instead, he makes a pun, and is rewarded with an eye roll that becomes iconic later on.

"Stop that," she tells him, blue eyes sparkling brighter than the sun.

"What, being meowvellous?" he asks. " 'Fraid not, milady."

She shoves him off the building.

He falls for her that day, and never gets back up. She pulls him up with her yo-yo, of course, but in his mind, he's stuck in a freefall he doesn't want to stop.

They go on plenty of adventures together after that, of course, but he doesn't remember a moment when he isn't willing to sacrifice himself for her. That doesn't mean that he always has the chance.

 **::**

"Ladybug!" He rushes forwards, sure that she has been gobbled up by the dinosaur. "Ladybug!" His eyes widen, hoping beyond hope that she would be alive. He can't lose her. She is one of the few things that made being Chat Noir bearable. Scrambling onto the dinosaur's jaw, he pries it open, his feet pushing down on its lower jaw as he pushes upwards, wrinkling his sensitive nose against the reptile's meaty breath.

A slimy Ladybug rolls out of the dinosaur's mouth, yelling at Chat to keep the akuma preoccupied. She lunges underneath the oversized lizard's head, aiming for something that Chat can't see. For the second time in as many minutes, Chat's heart leaps into his throat, but he knows that he would just have to trust her.

"Hey!" Chat flips onto the dinosaur's snout and places his feet next to the lizard's nostrils. "Look at me, you oversized lizard!" He punches the dinosaur on the nose, jumping up and down to keep its attention. "Have you ever heard of toothpaste? 'Cause you really, really stink."

Chat flaps his hand up and down around his nose in an exaggerated mimicry of batting away the stink of the dinosaur's mouth. In all honesty, the lizard's mouth is rather clean, if a bit full of saliva. But he resents the lizard for trying to gobble up his lady, so he attempts to humiliate the dinosaur as much as he can.

The dinosaur roars, lunging forward in an attempt to unbalance Chat. Chat suddenly finds the snout beneath him jerking up, and he slides forward in between the dinosaur's eyes, accidentally pressing his hand on one of them in an attempt to stop his skid off the animal's back.

The lizard glares with such fury, then, if Ladybug hadn't purified the akuma a second later, Chat is sure he would've been a dead cat, roasted to perfection and ready to be eaten.

As it is, the dinosaur began to shrink into the zookeeper, and Chat quickly leaps off of him. There's no need to stand on the man afterwards, and he's more worried about Ladybug. Chat runs and wraps his arms around Ladybug in a bone-crushing hug, running his hands around her and patting her hair, reassuring himself that she is safe, safe, and all is fine.

Ladybug huffs in surprise, and then pats Chat's head, running her fingers over his ears. "It's fine, chaton," she whispers, using her little nickname for him. "You did a great job of keeping him occupied."

His only response is to hug her tighter. He doesn't ever want to let her go.

It's not the last time that she scares him so badly, but it's definitely the first.

* * *

They create a routine, something Chat knows like the back of his hand. Patrol on Mondays and Thursdays, days where they spar with each other to improve their skills and keep the city safe. Partnering during akuma fights, sometimes twice a week or once a month. Coffee breaks afterwards, in a small café run by one of Adrien's friends who will let them sit and eat with their masks on.

He loves those meetings. It's where he learns so much about his lady, like the fact that she'll only eat macarons from the Dupain-Cheng bakery.

"Why, my lady, are you so picky?"

She reddens. "It's not called being picky, Chat."

He snorts. "I think when you'll only eat macarons from one bakery in all of Paris, that's called being picky."

"Yeah, well –" There's a pause as she struggles to find a suitable retort. "At least I don't make cat puns everyday!"

"Hey!" He pretends to take offense. "I'll have you know that they're catastrophically amazing!"

They devolve into pointless bickering after that. The media catches wind of the conversation, and after that was published, Ladybug gets overwhelmed with boxes and boxes of macarons from the Dupain-Cheng bakery at every chance her fans get while Chat looks on and incapacitates himself through laughter.

The tables are turned on him one day when a little girl professes her love to him in a letter full of puns. Ladybug giggles herself sick at the look on Chat's face when he realizes that he's been handed a ticking time bomb from the cutest kid ever.

 **::**

It's nearing the two year anniversary of him getting the ring when he realizes that he doesn't particularly like being Chat Noir anymore. It's just another mask for him to wear (how ironic, that he would wear a mask under another), but he knows that Ladybug likes being who she is, and he knows that he'll do anything for her. So he slips on a ring and smiles and fights by her side.

He's not happy, not really, but he's content enough to keep doing it. They don't ever tell each other who they are, despite the years passing by, despite them becoming close friends, best friends. Adrien still likes her, still has the largest crush on her, and he's sure that she doesn't know. He covers it up too well with overly flirtatious remarks and a quick joke every time she rejects him.

He doesn't know when they have a time limit, when they have to give up their miraculous, when they can stop being Chat Noir and Ladybug, when he stops meeting her. He doesn't know, so he savors every meeting he gets.

The thought of her leaving never crosses his mind.


	2. Gone Girl

A/N: Did I say weekly Sunday updates? Oops, I meant daily :).

* * *

She leaves. One day she's here, the next, she's gone. He leaves for patrol on a Monday night (it's Monday, it's always Monday when he dreams of this moment) and waits for her for three hours at their meeting spot on top of a middle school and realizes that she isn't going to come. So he goes back the next day, and the next, willing for her to show up, for him to see the gleam of city lights in her hair, for her to say, "Where have you been?" and to laugh that laugh she uses when she's teasing him. He wants her to swing from the rooftops of Paris, to fight again by his side _so badly_ that he cries.

He thinks that if he didn't have his crush on her, her departure wouldn't be so bad.

He toys with the idea of leaving Paris, of taking off the ring and placing it back into the small red and black box he has kept. He wonders why he's still Chat Noir, why he still goes out and patrols, why he still forces himself to do this. At first, it's because he does it in her memory; afterwards, it's because he loves the city too much not to.

When the first battle comes and she doesn't show up, he's paralyzed by fear. _I can't do this by myself,_ he thinks frantically. _And even if I do, how do I purify the akuma?_

He barely gets through the fight, sweating and dodging for a quarter of an hour before he finally snatches the amulet off the akuma's neck. A glass jar comes flying in his direction when he breaks open the amulet, and he captures the akuma in one smooth motion. An old Asian man waiting at the sidelines catches his eye, and Adrien thinks to himself that everything would be fine, fine, because of course the kwamis have a guardian.

The man quickly guides him through purifying the akuma by drawing out the feelings of discontent, which Plagg then consumes. Chat is shocked by the ease with which the writhing blue-black strands slide down Plagg's throat. Confused, Chat follows the man back to a massage studio where he reveals himself as Master Fu, guardian of the miraculous. What he learns there shakes the foundations of his world. It changes him.

Master Fu explains to him that he, too, does not know where the Ladybug miraculous is, but that the Ladybug's kwami has not sent out a distress signal, indicating that it's in safe hands, or at the very least, inactive. While that usually indicated that the holder of the miraculous was safe, there were no guarantees.

There's a lightning bolt of shock when he realizes that Hawkmoth could have incapacitated Ladybug and taken the miraculous while preventing a distress signal from being sent out, but Master Fu assures him that that could not have happened. Hawkmoth himself is a miraculous holder, Master Fu reveals, and distress signals were only detectable by kwamis and the guardians themselves. In Hawkmoth's case, the moth kwami had sent out a signal the very second he was awoken.

It is then the fact that Hawkmoth is a miraculous holder sinks in. The revelation brings him to his knees.

 _What if I become Hawkmoth one day?_ he thinks desperately, his head in his hands.

Master Fu leads Chat to a chair, patting him gently the way Ladybug used to, reassuring him that he'll be fine. Miraculous holders were carefully chosen. Hawkmoth was a rogue who had miraculously (pardon the pun, Master Fu had said) gotten his hands on a gem.

Master Fu teaches Adrien, demonstrates fighting skills and weapon accessories. He shows Adrien how to destroy an akuma and how to absorb the power of destruction to repair the buildings to reverse the damage. He shows Adrien how to be a solo fighter.

The first time Adrien tried to use Chat Noir's power of absorbing destruction, he discovered that his transformation was extended by another ten, fifteen minutes. Plagg tells him that the greater the amount of destruction absorbed, the greater the time he gets to spend as Chat Noir. Getting another chance to use cataclysm, though, requires so much destruction equivalent to a burnt building or an tsunami.

He finds that it's a useful thing, something that he uses to make his journey home easier. Once, when he was facing an earthquake akuma, there was enough damage to fuel an additional two cataclysms that came in handy for incapacitating the akuma. The media has a field day with that one. Chat Noir's abilities to cause such destruction incur worry from city officials, but his ability to clean up the akumas' messes appease them. It helps that he can absorb the damages sustained, eliminating the need for Ladybug.

Ladybug's disappearance baffles Paris. She's a beloved hero, more so than Chat, because for all that they could be solo, she represents the light and he the dark. The city's worried at first that Chat Noir is no longer able to protect the city, but as the akuma fights go on and Chat purifies the akuma using less and less time, the city's love for him grows.

There are those who believe that Chat stole Ladybug's miraculous for his own gain and keeps her captive in some superhero lair. They hound him in interviews and online blogs, chasing after him when akuma fights end and sometimes attempting to prevent him from purifying an akuma. When he shows up at the publicity events meant to commemorate the protection of Paris, they lob all sorts of fruits and vegetables. Once, someone threw a heavy rock at his head, but his quick reflexes save him from becoming a pancake. Instead, cataclysm reduces it to a shower of pebbles. After that, the throwing of objects stop, but the online vitriol grows even more bitter.

He does have his staunch fans, though, and they shower him with praises. They hand him plush toys and catnip car fresheners and wheels upon wheels of Camembert cheese when Chat revealed his supposed love of the stinky delicacy. (There's a long, long post afterwards critiquing his taste in cheese. Adrien shows Plagg, who turns his nose up and scoffs at the blogger's uncultured taste).

When Adrien breaks down one day from the pressure of being the only one to protect Paris, Master Fu teaches him the history and the power of the kwami. He learns that there will always be a backup plan, even if Adrien didn't know about it (later Master Fu tells him that the guardians of the kwami are the last defense), so he feels more comfortable about leaving Paris for modeling work and school trips, but he always worries about his city.

Master Fu introduces the multitude of influences the kwami have had on the human world. He becomes more knowledgeable than he ever thought he would be, and he learns all the answers to the things he had wondered about in his earlier days. Adrien becomes powerful. He isn't happy.

He doesn't live.

LINE BREAK

He gets by, day after day, his life a blur of grey and white. Battles after battles go by, and still Ladybug doesn't show up. After a particularly nasty one, he sees red spots in his vision, and he lunges forward, gasping, arms reaching for a hallucination that doesn't exist. Afterwards, he is told that he had a concussion and required medical treatment.

Sometimes, he thinks that maybe she'll learn of his identity and come back, but it's a mad man's dream, and he knew that when he let himself dream of it.

She's gone, gone, gone, and he's resigned himself to the fact that she'll never be back. He flicks through the videos on the Ladyblog, the old photos that feature both him and his partner. They look so young, so invincible, so sure that things were going to go their way.

He tries to push her out of his mind after that. She's still there, if he takes a peek around the corners.

* * *

A/N: Thoughts, feelings?


	3. Chapter 3

It's been a year and he hasn't stopped searching for her. The Internet, too, hasn't stopped either, and he uses it to his utmost advantage. The Ladyblog features various posts and ask forums, all of them over spilling with speculation and photos. Posts have estimates of Ladybug's weight, height, and ethnicity laid out in stark lines, users arriving at their answers through comparative analyses. Witness sites spring up, especially when some people claim to have spotted Ladybug somewhere in Paris.

Some of the more interesting posts are from foreign countries. There are a few in English, stating a glimmer of a spotted suit in Quebec, while another contains a blurry picture of the aforementioned suit. One in Brazil boldly states in Portuguese that Ladybug had set up her new hometown in the area, but with no photographic evidence, Adrien feels comfortable writing it off as a scam. One of the most interesting ones is a full body picture that features a pale face with blue eyes and dark hair. The photo's location is tagged as Belgium and the time stamp is from a day ago. Predictably, it's gone viral already, spurring floods of speculative posts. Funnily enough, the photo disappears within the week. If Adrien hadn't saved it the minute he saw it, he wouldn't have thought that it was real. There aren't much more after that.

He doesn't stop, though. He doesn't think he ever will.

::

Eventually, living without Ladybug becomes a fact of life, and the times when he had a partner are like a dream. He keeps his friends with him – Nino, Alya, Chloe (he knows that she means well, even if most people can't stand her). Marinette had disappeared shortly after high school graduation, and during her trips back to Paris from her design college in Belgium, she always turns down his suggestions to meet. Alya feeds him excuses about her being too busy and too tired, and Adrien accepts them all with a nod and a smile. He thought Marinette and himself were close friends, but apparently he was wrong. Even so, she is his first friend that he made by himself, and it represents a loss that leaves a panging sensation in his chest.

Nino and Alya are wonderful, even if they had begun dating a few months ago and Adrien has felt like a third wheel for the better half of the year now. It was a long, long trek towards the destination that they all knew would be inevitable. Marinette and Adrien had teased them about it ever since their first year of high school, but neither of them had made a move until now.

They've begun their second year in college, the three of them, all of them staying in Paris. Adrien was forced to stay in Paris to fulfill his modeling contract with his father, Alya had to take care of her siblings, and Nino wanted to stay with his friends. They have a routine: laughing and joking their way to the bus stop in the morning, taking lunch together in the quad, and heading to a store after class.

College is nice. It's fun in the way high school isn't because Adrien can now choose his own courses, instead of following the strict regimen dictated to him. He chooses to major in business administration, because he knows that he will inherit his father's fashion industry one day, and physics, just because he can. He doesn't mind choosing a double major, doesn't mind that he knows that he'll have to choose one of them over the other, doesn't mind that his father's fashion industry will win over physics. He'll have enjoyed himself for the time being, and that is what matters now.

To his surprise, business administration isn't as boring as he expected. Organizing a workforce, it turns out, is complicated and the various methods to do it with are creative and interesting. He learns about finance, accounting, management, and communication that appeal to his love of math and the military mindset he uses as Chat Noir.

Physics, on the other hand, is pursued because of his love for it. The subject teaches him that the world works in a very particular order and that everything must obey that system. It's reliable – one just needed to know the rules first. It fascinates him and intrigues him at the same time. Although, he will admit, having a knowledge of physics definitely helped him pull of risky, seemingly impossible stunts when fighting akumas.

He joins clubs, makes new friends, expands his horizons. He discovers a knack for knitting, an inability to fold origami, and a talent for cooking. He wasn't ever allowed to cook at home because of his diet, but the minute he was out of his father's thumb, he used online tutorials to teach himself. Adrien loves to try new dishes from different cultures, but he's never quite sure if he got the taste right or not. Regardless, his friends love it when he cooks, and so when monthly potlucks they have roll around, he brings a large pot of something that he had been trying out.

His friends accept him, even with the fact that he is an internationally famous model, and he is grateful to them for it. Some were starstruck at first, but once it was established that Adrien was just another person, the shine wore off. A running joke is that the moment Adrien tripped over a nonexistent rock, his pristine image as a model was broken.

He settles into his routine, and the years go by. Changes occur. Nino and Alya get married in a beautiful ceremony with Adrien as the best man and Marinette as the bride of honor. It's a lovely ceremony and he's happy that his friends are finally tying the knot. Adrien's modeling contract is extended for another two years, with a new clause that allows his name to be licensed in conjunction with products. Master Fu begins to teach him about the turtle kwami to prepare him as the next guardian. He suspects that as the remaining active kwami holder with a positive relationship with Master Fu, he was the only option.

He dates a little. Not much, just enough for him to prove to himself that he's gotten over his crush on his former partner. (He really hasn't).

::

The day the public learns of his identity, three years and nine months after Ladybug's disappearance, is one of the days that he never wants to relive. The headlines are large and disastrous, he knows, and his name makes it all the easier for Hawkmoth to find him.

Master Fu gives him a weary look when Adrien stumbles in one day clutching a copy of the damning news, but pats him on the shoulder and doesn't let go.

His father ignores Adrien for a month when the headlines hit. When Gabriel Agreste finally makes contact, it's in Adrien's apartment one hot day in July. There, they have a long and harsh argument about what it means to be a hero, to be a son, to be a parent. To be a person. His father doesn't approve; how could he, after the disappearance of Adrien's mother? Gabriel makes his peace with it though, but not without restrictions and check-ins after each akuma fight. Adrien respects his father's willingness to compromise; he know that it's how his father shows that he cares.

His friends are shocked, Nino and Alya most of all. They don't forgive him easily for not telling them and risking his life daily, and his other friends in college keep their distance until the news has settled in. It's about half a year before he and his friends feel normal around each other. He spends that time with Master Fu, rapidly gaining new skills and knowledge.

The old man prepares him for the press. He's eternally thankful for it. His statements spin him as a upstanding hero loyal to the populace, gathering so much public support that any attack on Chat Noir is seen as an attack on freedom and democracy. The federal government's hands are tied, but that doesn't stop them from trying. He's kidnapped once, but not before he breaks free and bystanders film it, uploading it onto the internet. After the resulting media outbreak, the government leaves him alone. He does strike a deal with the law enforcement forces in Paris, though, exchanging contact information and resources to keep the city safe.

If there is a good thing about his identity reveal, it's that his modeling career has taken off. Modeling for his father had brought him his breakout exposure, but it's being Chat Noir that brings in the money. He walks for the big names, the small ones, but the ones he prefers the most are those that try to bring some extra good into the world. There's so much money, too much money, so he donates some of it, sets some aside for daily life, and saves the rest.

::

Hawkmoth doesn't attempt to target him. At least, there are no armed knife fights or kidnappings in the back alleyway, and when Adrien's emotions run high, no akuma is sent for him. He doesn't think much of it at first, and he's confused when time goes on and Hawkmoth still doesn't come for him. Eventually, he just doesn't question it. He has enough on his plate.

The media, too, shies away from digging up old dirt. Adrien's reputation as himself is spotless, but Chat Noir's is not. He's always been the darker side of the superhero duo because of how easily he could destroy things, but he also knows that his impeccable ability to absorb that destruction harnesses the media's muzzle. He recognizes, too, the immense power of his father looming behind him, preventing the media from publishing scathing articles about the son.

Adrien's glad. It's one less problem for him to deal with.

::

Ladybug doesn't come back.

He still looks for her, but not as often as he used to. The ragged edges of his wound have been cauterized by his anger, his hurt curdled into resentment. He doesn't know if he wants her here or not.

He thinks that he's content. Happy, even.

Then, he graduates.

* * *

A/N: Neck-deep in college apps right now. So, so many essays. What do you want to do or already doing in college?


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Thank you guys for reading, reviewing, favoriting and following!

* * *

The first indication that something is wrong occurs in the early morning of summer, one year after his graduation. It first begins with a series of incessant pings on his phone, followed by numerous calls and news alerts. He has a modeling shoot that day, though, and he can't check it, no matter how badly he wants to.

It's only when he gets home that he sees the headlines on the newspapers.

 _LADYBUG IS BACK,_ they blare out in large letters. _WHAT WILL CHAT NOIR THINK?_

 _PARIS'S LADY RETURNS._ A large photo of a red-suited heroine swinging through Paris is placed directly in the center. The photo was snapped during the night, but it's good enough to capture shining blue eyes and dark hair. Adrien's heart lodges in his throat.

There are a few that focus mainly on Chat's supposed reaction, while others speculate on his nonexistent love life.

 _CHAT NOIR AND LADYBUG, WRITTEN IN THE STARS?_

 _EXPECT A FALL WEDDING, READERS!_ A lurid pink heart encircles a photo of himself and Ladybug standing close together. It's photo shopped, of course, but that doesn't prevent readers from taking it seriously.

He sees missed calls from Alya, from Nino, from his friends from college. His lock screen is clogged with notifications of text messages and news reports. Adrien is still reeling from the news.

He sighs and calls Nino and Alya. They come over to his apartment and sit in silence, staring into the distance. Adrien prepares some tea mechanically and sets it down in front of them. He watches the steam rise, lets it wash out the mess of thoughts swirling in his mind. It's calming, soothing, peaceful.

None of them makes a move.

By the time the steam stops rising, the golden afternoon light is slanting into the room, casting long shadows with blurry edges, pale in the corners and dark near the origins.

Alya clears her throat. "Wasn't that something."

Nino and Adrien don't say anything. Nino, probably because he doesn't know what to say, and Adrien, because he doesn't want to think about it. The words hang in the air, stretching like taffy. The words seem heavier and heavier the longer no one says anything.

In the end, Nino adds, "How are you guys feeling?"

Adrien raises his head. "Like a truck ran me over."

Alya sighs. "Boiled in a pit of fire."

"Yeah," Nino says, "that sound pretty accurate."

"What are we supposed to do?" Alya asks. The question hangs in the air. What _were_ they supposed to do? If the Ladybug in the photos is the one who left, then would they confront her? Would she confront them? Why did she even leave in the first place? But if the Ladybug isn't the one who left, who is the new one? Did she have a secret agenda, or did she just find the Ladybug miraculous in a shop and just wear it in a misguided attempt to replace the former superhero?

Adrien clears his throat. "We should probably look at the picture first. You know, check if it's a scam or not."

"Yeah," Nino agrees halfheartedly. "Maybe it's a scam?"

They all know it's not a scam. The media wouldn't dare print something so shocking unless there was a sliver of truth to it. There was too much respect for what Miraculous holders have done to slander their names with false articles and scathing comments.

"I'll check it." Alya pulls up the Ladyblog and scans through the old pictures of Ladybug, picking out a particularly clear one that shows Ladybug's face in frontal detail. She then attempts to pick out a similar one from the media's cache of photos, inputting both into a facial scanner. While they wait for the results, she scrolls through the comments on the news posts and on online forums. Alya reads a few of them out loud, but most just call for Chat Noir to comment or call the Ladybug in the photos a traitor. Most of the online articles think that the Ladybug is the same one as the one who disappeared five years ago.

Adrien takes out his phone and stares at the news photos, scrutinizing every pixel of her face, taking a look for himself. The eyes are the same shining blue, the nose the same button shape, and the mouth the same shade of pale pink. Although the hair has changed from two pigtails to a ponytail and the face is narrower than he remembers, he knows that it's the same Ladybug. There are no doubts.

He doesn't want it to be his old partner. He's made a life for himself, and although he felt apathy when he thought of her yesterday, the shock to his heart as news of her appearance leaves him unsure of what he'll actually do when he meets her. Adrien's scared that she'll tear him apart again.

Something beeps. Alya picks up her phone and scans the screen. "Facial recognition results are in," she says slowly. Adrien sighs. It'll probably tell him the inevitable. There's a quick intake of breath from Nino.

"What is it?" he asks, voice strung with tension.

She takes a deep breath. The air whooshes in and out. "It's a match, guys."

There's a pause, and then Nino says, "Thank god."

"Why?" Adrien's head whips towards his friend.

Nino spreads out his hands. "I mean, at least Hawkmoth hasn't gotten the miraculous and forced some unsuspecting person to use it."

"But we don't know why she's back," Alya muses. "Why now, of all things, after five years? Does that number have any correlation to something?"

Adrien shakes his head. "Five isn't an important number; at least, not with the miraculous. She could've felt like coming back now."

"You'd know, right?" Nino directs this towards Adrien. "Especially you being – you know, and all." His friends are still hesitant of talking about his double identity, even though it's been over a year since his reveal.

"I'm pretty sure," Adrien reassures his friend.

"But what is she's working for Hawkmoth?" Alya adds.

"Who knows how long she's been here before she got photographed?" Nino wonders aloud. "Probably a couple months, I guess."

"I'm guessing that's about the time frame. Hawkmoth isn't subtle at all. If Ladybug's working for him, something would've already happened by now," Adrien says. "She's definitely not under his control."

"Then what is she doing here?" A note of confusion and anger colors Nino's voice. "She left us. She left Paris. She left you!" He darts a worried glance at Adrien. "And she's coming back like nothing's happened?"

"We still need a plan to deal with her, though," Alya says. "I'm thinking of limiting her exposure."

"I'd like to ignore her for a couple of years and see how she feels," Nino says heatedly.

"Maybe," Alya tilts her head. "As long as people ignore her, then she won't get the coverage she wants or needs. It might just ruin whatever goals she has."

"But what if she needs to fly under the radar? We'll just be helping her by letting her fly under the radar." Adrien's points out.

"Not if we ask people to keep an eye on her. We can track her position that way." Alya's already furiously tapping away on her phone. "The Ladyblog's been getting a phenomenal number of hits after the news articles, and with such high traffic, if I make a post now, there'll be so many people who will read it that they can easily keep up with Ladybug's appearances."

"That could work," Nino agrees.

"Can you link us to the map?" Adrien asks.

"Yeah," Alya replies distractedly. "I'll make it public, so everyone can see it. That way, we can verify with photos and first person accounts."

"Sounds good," Adrien hums. "We'll keep an eye on her. And I'll keep a lookout when I'm Chat."

"That's convenient for you, right?" Nino asks. "Like, patrols?"

Adrien nods. "It's not a problem."

"I think I'll just ignore her when I see her," Nino announces. "I just don't feel comfortable talking to her."

"I'll try to get a news article out of her," Alya adds. "It'll help me practice my journalism skills, anyways."

"I think I'll just warn her away," Adrien says. "Especially if I'm Chat."

"Sounds good," Alya says approvingly.

They sit together for a while, before Nino picks up the mug sitting in front of him. He takes a sip of tea and spits it out. "It's really strong and really cold. How long have we been sitting here?"

"Long enough for us to justify a movie, I think," Adrien says. "How about, I don't know, Le Petit Prince?"

"No!" Nino screeches. The mood lightens as Alya and Adrien share a smile. "We always watch that when there's a movie night!"

"I like it," Alya says loftily. "Why not? Adrien, you've got the CD, right?"

"I'll just go ahead and get it started." He heads to the movie player. "Let me see. I can't remember where I put it last time."

"Good! Let's pick another one!" Nino lunges forward and searches Adrien's movie collection, and then clucks his tongue. "Let's just see if there's anything better online." He takes control of the remote and logs into his Netflix account.

"I want to choose," Alya calls out, her hand outstretched. "Give it to me!"

"Never!" Nino dances out of her way, remote held high in the air.

Adrien heads to the kitchenette to make some more drinks. He leaves Nino and Alya to fight it out, coming back only when he hears the opening credits playing.

It's a good night to spend with his friends.

::

The mayor holds a press conference shortly afterwards to control the damage and the spin the tale he wants. He contacts Adrien, asking him to show up as Chat Noir at the city hall. It's a mess when he gets there early in the morning. Even though the conference is supposed to start three hours later, the journalists are swarming like a hive of bees.

Adrien dodges them in a series of neatly placed leaps, entering the building in the nearly inaccessible skylight in the roof, then crawling through the air ducts the janitor's left open for him. He sits at the uncomfortable plastic tables (they're the same no matter where he goes) and nods at the mayor's statements of the city's security and the important role Chat would play. When the cameras point at him, Adrien's ready to make his statement.

"I believe in our city and its residents. Remember to run and get help if you see anything strange happening. Call the police and they will contact me if I'm not there already," he says. "I will be looking to neutralize the potential threats we have. Rest assured that I will do everything in my power to keep the city safe." He smiles and waves.

He comes out of that conference as a city hero, ready to fight against the forces of evil. The mayor has successfully assured Paris that Ladybug, whether or not the same one who disappeared five years ago, will be taken care of by Chat Noir, who is of course an esteemed member of society.

Chat Noir's popularity is at an all-time high. Public opinion lends Chat its sympathy while directing its ire towards Ladybug, believing her to be a traitor who played with poor Chat Noir's heart. While online comments raze the mayor for avoiding conformance of the identity of Ladybug, but even so, many others express relief at Chat Noir's pledge to keep the city safe. As a result, the Ladyblog's request of a public map to keep track of Ladybug's location is met with fervor and support.

Sightings begin to trickle in: a black and red suit here, a dark yo-yo there. Almost all of the posts feature sightings at night. Gradually, as the posts gather in number, most of them point to a twenty mile radius around the Eiffel Tower, with a few stray pins near the clothing districts. It almost looked like Ladybug was practicing, getting used to the suit and her powers again. Perhaps she was trying to find out where Chat Noir lived; if she was, then she was definitely getting close.

He patrols more frequently near Eiffel Tower now. He doesn't want her following him home.

::

It isn't until a few days later that he thinks about Marinette, and she pops up and disappears in his mind within the next few weeks. Adrien supposes that the loss of two people who represents two of his important first at the same time would be linked together. He searches himself, and realizes that he feels only mild interest in one and a deep resentment for another.

::

He meets his old partner for the first time in five years that night. It's not much different from how they first met, when she came flying down from the sky onto his baton, except he's the one who crashes into her.

He's leaping into the sky to avoid the akuma, only to collide into a slim, muscular body on the edge of a building. He rolls off of them, panic overtaking his senses at the possibility of seeing a civilian at the fight scene. When he takes a second look at them though, light glints off of a red and black polka-dotted suit, a dark ponytail, and two blue eyes.

Ladybug.

He quashes down the rising fear and anger, speaking quickly and harshly. "Get out of the way," he says. "I know you think you can help, but it's been years since we fought together and it's better if I do it myself."

He throws himself back into the fight. There's no need to look back; if Ladybug is still as duty-bound as she was before she left, she'll stay out of his way. He's right. She disappears for the rest of the fight.

He doesn't meet her again until the end of the summer, but that doesn't stop the fear and anger from coming back, constantly wavering in the back of his mind.


	5. Chapter 5

He does, however, see Marinette the next month.

Adrien runs into her when he's walking down the street, of all things. It's the street outside of her parents' bakery, and he bumps into her as he pulls the door open to enter. She's exiting with a tray of croissants, and they spill all over the sidewalk. He hurriedly begins to pick them up, offering apologies all the while.

He's vaguely aware that Marinette is squatting next to him, picking up the pastries as well. He turns and smiles at her once he's done, but she disappears within the bakery doors the second he rises to his feet. He debates about following her inside, but given how quickly she's brushed him off, he doesn't think she'll welcome it.

Sighing, he turns away and heads to another place to fulfill his sweet tooth. The Dupain-Chengs' pastries have been his favorite for a while, but if he makes Marinette so uncomfortable, he's better off going somewhere else.

::

The frequency of the akumas taper off. He's now only fighting them off two weeks now, instead of every few days. He changes his patrol routines to account for it.

::

The next time he sees her, it's in the warren of offices in his father's fashion company. As predicted, Adrien began taking more control over the business administration side of things, and he's talking with Philippe in HR about possibly reorganizing the workspace layout when Marinette comes walking in.

When she sees him, she looks like a deer in the headlights, but steadfastly walks up to the man Adrien was talking with. Upon seeing her, Philippe chuckles.

"Adrien, there's my ten-thirty appointment. I'd love talking about it more with you, so why don't we discuss this during lunch?"

Adrien acquiesces. He's more interested in what Marinette's doing here anyways. If she doesn't like Adrien that much, why is she in his father's company?

Philippe tells him later over a spring soup. "That girl will be making splashes in the fashion world. Her designs are simply phenomenal for a beginner. " He sighs as he takes a sip of his soup.

"I take it you took her on, then?" Adrien hides a smile as he eats. Philippe is known to have an eye for talent, and his penchant for hiring on-the-rise designers has a large role in keeping his father's fashion line fresh.

"Adrien, my boy, one must take the opportunities when they come. Of course I took her on." Philippe winks at him. "Hoping to date her?"

Adrien splutters into his salad, and spends the rest of lunch trying to convince Philippe that he has no romantic intentions towards Marinette. He's not successful. Not by a long shot.

::

Adrien, Nino, and Alya are out together on one of their weekly coffee meet ups when Adrien realizes that Marinette is absent. Given how close Alya and Marinette are, he thought that Alya would have invited her already.

"So, I hear Marinette's back," he says cautiously. He's not sure how Alya will take it, since she's aided Marinette in avoiding Adrien. To this day, he's still not sure why Marinette decided to cut him off so suddenly.

"Yes," Alya draws out the word. "What about it?"

"I haven't seen her in a while, that's all," he shrugs.

She relaxes when she realizes that Adrien is just idly curious. "She hasn't been back much when she was in college, but she's taken a job recently, so she'll be here in the near future."

"We should invite her to one of these," Nino muses. "It'll just be like being back in high school all over again."

"That would be nice," Adrien sighs. "Just the threat of homework over our heads."

"And Chloe," Alya adds.

They snicker into their drinks. A group outing with Marinette is set for three weeks from now.

::

It's a good outing. Adrien and Marinette reconnect over biscotti and macarons while Alya and Nino discuss the merits of birthday presents. It's as if the absence of five years of contact and earlier awkwardness of the previous two meetings were never there; Adrien and Marinette click in the way they did before high school ended. They arrange to meet up again, just by themselves, when Nino and Alya are booked for next Saturday, a standing appointment that usually has Nino and Alya joining in.

They talk about most things. The topic rarely strays to Paris's superheroes. Marinette never mentions his role as Chat Noir. She must know; his name and Chat Noir's are always linked in the papers. Perhaps she knew how much the disappearance of Ladybug hurt him. He's grateful, whatever the reason may be.

Adrien's pleased, but he doesn't dare ask Marinette why she cut him off before. He doesn't want to risk their fledgling friendship.

* * *

He goes through several akuma battles by himself. Sometimes, he spots a red and black suit in his peripheral vision, but whoever it is stays out of his way. They don't enter the fight, and they don't join him on patrols. When he asks Master Fu about the ladybug miraculous, the old man only tells him that Tikki's chosen is still the same, which confirms Adrien's suspicion that it's his Ladybug who is out there. She brings back all of the feelings that he thought he had worked out already to the forefront of his mind, resting on the edge of his heart like bombs waiting to drop.

Adrien resolves to talk to her the next time he sees her, but he's afraid that if he does, the quiet peace of his life will change. He's not ready for the change, no matter how many times he tells himself that he's over her departure, so he lets things stay the way they are.

In the end, she's the one who ends up talking to him first.

::

It's the end of the summer by then. Marinette lets him stay in her life this time around, and he's starting to ease into their friendship. He's relaxed on a cool summer day when she tells him that she's staying on as an assistant.

"You got the job?" he asks over a cup of coffee. He averts his eyes to avoid the glare of Marinette's hair.

She nods excitedly. "Not yet, but it's as good as being hired. They've chosen me to stay on this year, and I'll be fully hired by the beginning of the next month."

"We should go out to celebrate. All of us, I mean," he elaborates when she doesn't reply. "It'll be fun."

"Yeah, it would," she laughs. "Just spaced out there for a bit. How about two Saturdays from now?"

He accepts her explanation easily. She does it often, and he thinks she's picked it up somewhere from when high school ended and her internship began.

::

Ladybug confronts him one night after patrol, a dark blur dropping down in front of him. He recognizes her after a split second, his resentment and anger rushing back to him like the ocean tide, and raises his staff to fight.

"Calm down, Chat, you know I'm not here to cause trouble. I just want to talk." She raises her hands up in a facsimile of a surrender. Her voice is strange to hear after five years. What is familiar, though, is the placating tone she uses when there was a particularly belligerent akuma. He ignores it.

"Not here. You're coming with me," he demands. He doesn't drop his staff, though. Chat doesn't trust her to stay this time, and he's not sure why she suddenly decided to talk to him. Instead of dealing it by himself, he's bringing her to Master Fu.

She readily submits when he tells her to get on his staff. He can carry her on his baton while traveling around, and the position will make it hard for her to get off while keeping her within his line of sight. She hangs on tightly as he propels them through the air and into his mentor's studio. Not many pedestrians notice them as they land in front of the door.

He knocks quickly, a quick pattern of two-one-three, the code for an emergency. Master Fu appears a few seconds later, opening the door and letting him in. Chat drags Ladybug after him, and if the appearance of a certain previously absent superhero surprises Master Fu, he doesn't show it.

"Sit, please." The old man gestures towards a room. "I'll get some tea."

Chat leads Ladybug into a room and then releases the transformation in her presence. There aren't any shadows in the room. If she doesn't know who is under the mask, she knows now. He doesn't hear any gasps that usually accompany a reveal, telling him that Ladybug already know his identity before tonight.

He doesn't trust her enough to not bolt, so he stays in the room, petting and feeding Plagg to keep an eye on her. By the way she glances at him, twitching in annoyance, she knows exactly what he is thinking. He assumes that she also knows that she can't resent him for keeping watch, considering how untrustworthy she was the last time he had seen her, so he ignores her instead of glaring at her. His skin pricks from her gaze, but it's satisfying from being the one in control here.

The door creaks open as Master Fu enters with a tea set, steam curling from the spout of the teapot. He doesn't look worried by the polka-dotted figure standing in the corner, so Chat takes that as a cue to stop ignoring Ladybug. If his mentor doesn't think she's a threat, then she probably isn't.

"Ladybug," the old man intones, "have some tea and release the transformation. Tikki, I know, isn't comfortable maintaining the suit for long periods of time."

The girl shakes her head, jerking her chin towards Adrien. "Not with him in the room."

Adrien sets his jaw. He has a right to know. He needs to know if she leaves again, like before. He needs the closure for that.

Master Fu and Ladybug lock eyes. There is a tense pause before the old man sighs. "Very well, then. Adrien, if you could be so kind?"

Adrien narrows his eyes. Anger bubbles in his throat, anger that he quickly quashes back down. If Master Fu is so willing to prioritize Ladybug's comfort over his knowledge, then he would only have to trust in his mentor's decision. It could be that Ladybug _would_ bolt if Adrien knew who she was, so he slips out of the room, closing the door with more force than necessary.

He stands outside and listens. He wanted all the information he could get, but from the indistinct murmuring sounds coming from the room, the two were either talking in whispers or Master Fu had muted the room with pillows and mufflers. Either way, Adrien isn't learning anything until Master Fu tells him. He decides to leave, and this time, the slam of the front door is much louder.

* * *

A/N: Question of day: What's your favorite dessert? I'm leaning towards mochi ice cream.


	6. Chapter 6

He sees Master Fu the next night, but the old man refuses to talk about Ladybug in length. The only thing he tells Adrien is to accept that Ladybug is back and to continue with life as normal. There isn't anything Adrien can do or wants to do at this point, so he takes the advice.

He returns to patrolling and to work. He keeps in touch with his friends and his modeling career. His career is strong, but his agent feels that he's been losing touch with his audience, so she sends him to a shoot in Paris that features him with kittens and a spread that shows off his supposed apartment. It's all fake, of course; he loves kittens, but they're from the local animal shelter, and a professional interior designer has her way with his living quarters before the photos are taken.

The shoot is a hit. The magazine spread sells out within two days and reprints are ordered by the day. He's booked straight for months afterwards, and his friends tease him about the kitten photos for weeks.

His father and his publicist are please with the reception, and they see an opportunity to capitalize upon it. If Adrien could promote himself as relatable and kind, he stands to extend his appeal beyond national borders and into the global realm. That type of image could do wonders for his father's company because Adrien is connected to it by extension, and the reputation would mean growth in sales for the business.

His father is thrilled, if Gabriel Agreste could ever be thrilled. Adrien's publicist is ecstatic. Adrien enters it with a caveat: philanthropy. If he were to promote such an image, then he'd rather act like one. It doesn't take much of a fight. His publicist agrees. His father thinks it'll benefit his personal growth. Adrien's glad he can start taking steps to become who he wanted to be.

The first thing he does is to source ideas from his friends. Nino and Alya express worries about daycare and school resources, things their schools were short on because of budget cuts. Marinette wonders about food safety and availability as a whole. Philippe took one look at him and told him to start student-pet programs to teach empathy and responsibility.

"I think having a pet would have benefited you, Adrien," he said. "Then you would've had someone to play with."

Adrien likes Philippe's idea, but his publicist refuses to sponsor it. She worries about parent liability and safety concerns, so she cautions him to start small.

"Money is something everyone welcomes, but bringing live animals in can create more problems," she tells him when he first voices his idea about the student-pet program. "Let's start with funding. Something like scholarships or materials."

So then he starts a non-profit that works with local schools to determine funding based on need; school budgets have been becoming increasingly more stringent. He hires people that gather and organize community feedback about local needs and the school needs. They are the ones who send the money and raise donations. Adrien, of course, is the image to sell the idea.

But Adrien doesn't just want to be a figurehead, so he makes himself an essential figure in the proceedings. He checks in on the hired personnel, ensuring that the ones who make it to the final cut are those with a true passion for their community. He looks for people who are genuinely devoted to the cause, people with skills to make the nonprofit work, and people who just need a chance to shine.

He checks in with them every week on their progress, and they're rising within year. They've started working with one school, soon to add on a second in the local area, and they've managed to raise enough money to replace old textbooks and classroom supplies.

He's proud of what they've done. His father, too, is thrilled, so he allows Adrien to continue working on modeling and the organization, instead of pushing Adrien to take an executive position in the company.

::

He meets up with Marinette frequently during those times. He's busy, and so is she, but he's beginning to look forward to each of their conversations more than he does with Alya and Nino. He refuses to contemplate what that means.

She's friendly, kind. She hugs him when he's upset and cheers with him when he's proud. They touch more often, now – a brush of fingers when passing the cream, a tap on the shoulder as a hello. He itches to hold her hand these days, and sometimes, he wakes up dreaming of a brush of fingers across his forehead. The first time, he thought it was his mother. The second, he knew it was Marinette.

Nino and Alya eventually catch on to it. They tease him about his newfound crush on his former classmate, and Alya gets a twinkle in her eye that he sees whenever she's sent to someplace interesting for headline news. They never mention it in front of Marinette, but Adrien can easily imagine Alya spilling the beans to Marinette one day.

It's not the worst nightmare, he thinks. They're good enough friends that even if she turns him down, there'll be little change. He doesn't think that she'll avoid him afterwards.

Except that she does. Adrien accidentally blurts it out one day in the park. It fits in between "The grass is beautiful" and "I love your hair." She stares at him, and for a second, time stands still. Then she smiles at him, slowly, gently, and tells him that she doesn't feel the same way.

They walk home together, afterwards, and Adrien drops Marinette off at her apartment. He then runs back to his own place, curls up on his bed, and sends her a funny meme he found on the internet.

She doesn't reply. She doesn't even read it. The little check mark isn't even blue when he checks in the morning and the day after that. The read receipt is either turned off or she's ignoring him.

He checks the third day after his confession to find a small gif sitting in his messages. It's the one about a cat trying to catch a fish, except the fish always slipped through the cat's paws. He sends back a laughing kitten face, and nothing comes back.

When their Saturday meeting draws near, he fires off a text, asking if she'd still like to come. The message is read and presumably ignored, since there's no text on Saturday morning. He still goes to the café, hoping to see her.

She doesn't come.

It's like she's gone again, a ghost and a wisp of his memories. He tells Nino about it, and he pats him on the shoulder and advises Adrien to give Marinette time. He asks Alya about it, and she tells him to leave Marinette alone.

Adrien's not quite sure why she's avoiding him. He doesn't think he's done anything wrong; he simply confessed his feelings and if she didn't reciprocate, then that was fine. She didn't have to run away.

He sees her at work sometimes. Usually, he'll give her a smile and a wave, and she reciprocates and walks away. They don't talk.

::

He's not successful either with his superhero life. He's been thinking of giving up the mantle of Chat Noir lately, since Ladybug is back and his schedule has been so busy, he can't protect Paris all the time anymore. He knows that Master Fu keeps the city safe when he is gone somehow, and he's willing to bet that Ladybug contributes a role, but he never sees her again after that meeting. He knows too that he's getting old; he can't maintain a model life and still fight at the snap of a second. He's simply too tired to sustain something like that.

Once the idea sprouts in his head, it stays planted. He doesn't know how to bring it up to Master Fu. Adrien doesn't want to seem ungrateful or churlish for the opportunity he's given to become Chat Noir. He doesn't want to seem like he's abandoning Paris, but he knows that he wouldn't be, really, as the next guardian of the Miraculous.

Master Fu sees it in him one day when Adrien stumbles through the door with dust in his hair and dirt on his face. He's exhausted and when he releases the transformation, he imagines pulling off the ring for second. He's shocked when it flies through his mind.

"You want to give up the Miraculous?" the old man asks. Master Fu doesn't look disappointed or frustrated, only accepting of whatever Adrien's answer would be. His placid face frustrates Adrien. "I've been wondering when you were going to tell me."

"I-I'm not sure," he sighs out when the question registers in his exhausted mind. "I love being a superhero but I don't think I can keep up this life anymore. And if I'm gone, Ladybug will still be here, won't she?"

"She will," he says. "But do you think she'll still want to do it if you're gone?"

"Of course she will!" he snaps tiredly. "I haven't seen a glimpse of her in so long, but Paris is always protected when I'm gone. And I know it's not you," he adds when he thinks that Master Fu is about to speak. "There's been tales of ladybugs and magically restored akumas floating around during those times. She's perfectly capable of handling the task. I've done it alone for so long; I think she can too."

"What makes you think she'll do it when you're gone?" Master Fu repeats.

"She only does it when I'm not there," Adrien retorts. "What else could that mean?"

"Don't you think she's doing it for you?" He asks.

"What? Why would it be for me?"

"You've been overworked and exhausted for years, Adrien. I've noticed, so I asked her to take on some of the workload. She wouldn't have done it if I hadn't pointed out that you were running yourself dead." His voice is calm and gentle.

"So if I leave, she'll stop doing it?" Adrien's incredulous. All of this time, she hasn't said a word. And the one time he meets her, she resumes the radio silence, only to do more things for him?

"Of course not," he says. "But she will give up the Miraculous soon after you do."

"So I'll need to keep doing it so she'll stay too?" he demands. "I haven't seen her since that meeting; I haven't held a proper conversation with her in six years; I haven't even gotten an apology!"

"No," Master Fu says slowly. "If you leave, and when she inevitably leaves soon afterwards, you and I will train the next pair."

"And what happens to her?"

"She'll be involved."

"So we'll be training partners then." He barks out a laugh. He's so, so tired. "Will I know who she is?"

"That's up to her," His mentor pauses, sad. "You know you don't have to train the new pair together. You could easily hold separate sessions."

"I-I'll think about it." Adrien gets up from the ground with Master Fu's support, leaning on the old man. They head into the room where they clean off the dust and the dirt. The muddy water swirls down the drain, leaving clean, white porcelain behind.

* * *

A/N: We're two thirds of the way through, guys. Three more days!


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Sorry guys for the late chapter. Went ice skating today during the usual uploading time and never got back in time.

* * *

He leaves for a business trip soon afterwards that conversation. It's a good one; his team have expanded his presence in Asia, so he gets to visit China and Japan. He particularly enjoys the various food and clothing, and even though he gets sick several times from his adventurous eating with his untrained stomach, he still loves it.

When they're in China, he tries to test out his language skills. Adrien quickly realizes that while they're rusty, he's as good as a young child, maybe five or six. It amuses his team., He's forced to translate everything they see on the streets, be it basic signs for the bathroom, the subway station, or clothing materials. (For the last one, he uses a VPN and Google translate). When they're in Japan, they try to make him translate the various characters Mandarin and Japanese share.

Japan is fun. They manage to get there right during the cherry blossom season, so there's pink flowers everywhere and happiness all around. They attempt to try and not stick out too much, but soon enough, he gets recognized and he autographs sheets of paper and takes selfies with so many fans.

Their happiness makes him happy. He likes seeing them smile.

::

He gets back afterwards, having spent a week in Asia. It isn't soon enough for his jetlag to leave him yet, so he tries to work it off by patrolling at odd hours in the night. There's a pleasant buzz in his body and a lightness in his head, so he thinks that he can be excused when he's caught off guard by a rogue akuma.

It's a monster of a thing, with poufy red hair and huge green ears and a lolling tongue. It screams something about fashion week and a devolves into the rant about the lack of recognition of its design genius.

Chat sighs. Surely it can't be that time of the year already? Akumas tended to spike up around important national or international events, and with Paris being Paris, fashion shenanigans were one of the more common reasons an akuma was created. Fashion weeks were a nightmare in particular. There was always that one designer who managed to create more akumas than anyone else because of stubbornness or creativity issues.

This one seemed to have been created by a teacher – one who apparently refused to acknowledge the designer's genius. The akuma rants and rages, transforming unsuspecting passerby into ridiculous clown-monsters, generally horrifying people with their own reflection.

The entire scene is more hilarious than scary, so Chat thinks that he can be forgiven for chuckling a little. He doesn't think, however, that he can be forgiven for being caught off guard. The akuma suddenly turns _him_ into one of those ridiculous clown-monsters which strip him of his powers. He can't even release the transformation. He'd usually go find Master Fu at this point, but his mentor is away to visit his relatives, which places Chat in a delicate and uncomfortable position. He could either capture the akuma's butterfly in a jar and prevent the spread of the attack, or he could go around calling for Ladybug.

He knows that she's active, that she's the one taking care of the things Chat can't, which means that she's the one who's been managing the various night-life akumas. But he's not sure if she even wants to help him, and he doesn't think she'll take well to the resulting media outbreak. The newspapers have calmed down after the initial shock of her return, but an article that featured Chat Noir and Ladybug in the same, un-doctored photo was far more worth its weight in gold.

Chat looks around. The akuma's bounds and leaps away by now, and Chat doesn't think that he can catch up to it soon. The costume he's stuck in makes movement awkward, but not uncomfortable, which will probably hinder him on his quest to capture or even attempt to nullify the akuma.

He's got to call on Ladybug.

Chat sighs. Dread pools in his stomach, but he pushes it away to better focus on his task. He knows that Ladybug usually stays around Master Fu's studio (he'd gone searching for her once a week during those sleepless nights) but when there was an akuma, she'd be right next to it.

He lunges forward, intent on finding the clown monster, when suddenly, he feels an arm clasp under his ribs, jerking him forward and into the air.

He's forgotten her tendency to save civilians too. Apparently, now that he's been hit, he counts as one.

"Careful!" he hears her shout in his ear. "I know you've been hit by the akuma, but that is no reason to hang around on the rooftops!"

He stays silent. Chat doesn't know how if he wants to laugh or cry. She sounds exactly like she did six years ago, berating civilians for putting themselves in danger.

She drops him off in a dark alleyway, far away from akuma. "Now stay here. There's a butterfly I've got to purify."

At this, Chat taps her on the shoulder. He needs to warn her that Chat Noir can't be relied upon as backup. "Chat Noir's been compromised," he rasps, pitching his voice lower as to conceal his identity.

"He's been compromised?" She's shocked. He can see that she doesn't believe him in the slightest. "How would you know? Wait, you've seen him get hit by the akuma?"

He nods.

She takes a breath. "Thanks. You'll be back to normal soon." She leaves him, swinging away into the moonlight. Soon after, he's back in his black cat suit, and he quickly releases the transformation, patting his pants pocket for Plagg to hide in.

Adrien heads out of the alley and into the nearest convenience store to pick up some camembert. It's not the best quality, as Plagg consistently reminds him, but it's also the only place that's open this late at night. He keeps his head down as he enters and exits as quickly as he can with the cheese, stuffing the bag into his pocket for Plagg to eat.

They're in a part of Paris Adrien hasn't been to often, so he prays that Plagg will eat quickly. The kwami doesn't eat quickly enough, though. When Ladybug swings around the buildings right in front of him, the dust from her landing blowing into his face, Adrien's forced to dodge into the shadows and pat a hand in front of Plagg to mask his chewing sounds.

"Hey!" She looks at him, smiling with her eyes. "Thanks for the tip. Without it, Paris probably would've been stranded for a good while."

The dust rising in front of him gives Adrien an excuse to hide his face in his arms. He coughs a bit, trying to make his voice hoarse and deep so she wouldn't recognize it. There's a fear in him that if she recognizes him to be Chat Noir, she'll reject him like she did the last time they were in the same room together.

"No problem," he rasps. "Just doing what I can to help you do your job."

"I'd still like to thank you all the same. Is there anywhere you need to go?"

He shakes his head. "I'll be fine on my own."

"Be safe." She nods, gives him another look, and then swings her yo-yo, ostensibly returning home.

He turns around, waits for Plagg to finish eating, and then transforms into Chat Noir to make his way back to his apartment. He checks for Ladybug on his tail, and leaves several false trails for her to follow. He doesn't want her finding out about his superhero life. Adrien doesn't want any stray butterflies following him back home, either.

::

He meets Ladybug like that twice more, both during night runs where he couldn't sleep. Both times, he's deliberately allowed himself to be hit by an akuma, struck by a sudden urge to see Ladybug again. It's never guaranteed that she's going to find him, but for some reason, she always find him and stops by to hear his tidbit of advice that Chat Noir was out of commission, and she drops by afterwards to offer a trip to where he needs to go.

Adrien is careful to keep the appearances short and random; it's been years since he's allowed an akuma to drain him of his powers. He does it twice within a three month span, often enough that the media takes notice, but not often enough for Ladybug to comment on it. At least, she hasn't said anything in front of him.

::

The next time he sees Master Fu, the man only gives him a knowing smile and simply mentions that it is easiest to find Ladybug near the warehouses at night.

The first time he does that, Adrien makes sure to wear bulky, loose clothing to hide his figure. He tucks his hair into a cap and spray paints most of it black to protect it from the glare of city lights, and then convinces Plagg to give him a sore throat so that his voice is raspy and hard to recognize.

When she comes towards him, she subjects him to a fierce interrogation. She shows no recognition of him being Chat Noir, so he stays. She's wary of him at first, but after he proves that he's not paparazzi and that he stumbled upon the place by accident, she thaws.

They talk little at first. Mostly Adrien shows up early enough to chat a bit before she's off to patrol. She returns to the same spot afterwards, and they share a few words before they part again. He likes seeing her travel with her yo-yo; it reminds him of the better times from before. Gradually, the conversations stretch until they're chatting for hours companionably, meeting up once a week, and Ladybug shifts the meeting times forward so that she can complete patrols and still chat.

He learns that she patrols three times a week. When he asks her why, she just shrugs.

"It clears my mind," she says.

"But you do know that akuma attacks are becoming less frequent, right? I mean, akumas only show up twice a month now."

"Yeah, I know. I like swinging around Paris, though." She looks stiff before she adds, "And then we wouldn't be able to talk as often."

He grins. "I knew you couldn't resist my charm."

She laughs and swats his shoulder in response. "You're one to talk. I'm the irresistible one."

So that was that. He tries to show up more often, and she looks happy to see him. Sometimes, when he's out for business trips, he'll try to warn her ahead of time so she doesn't stay out early, only to waste her time when he doesn't come. He manages to tell her a couple times, enough for her to notice how often he's gone.

"Three times in as many months," she shakes her head. "Are you a model or what?"

He chokes on his surprise. "I just have to travel a lot for work," he deflects. She doesn't seem to catch the falsehood, if she does, then she gives no indication of it.

Once, though, he gets called out on a photo shoot the day of his meeting with Ladybug, and he doesn't have time to warn her that he's going to be gone for a week. It's an event that's been on his calendar for months, but he's been pushing it out of his mind because of the nature of the shoot. Hence, the forgetfulness and the lack of a warning. He barely manages to tell Master Fu that he would be gone before he's whisked away to the beaches to sell the image of a blond boy having fun in the sun.

It's a fun shoot. He meets some of his model friends there, and they pose in skimpy, sweaty poses on a beach, with minimal makeup. The experienced photographer gives detailed instructions and works quickly to nail the poses down. The photos are snapped quickly. They're done in two days, working from mid-morning to mid-afternoon, when the sun is at its brightest.

Even the paparazzi, while relentless, is bearable. Adrien and his friends duck into alleyways and run through side streets, and Chat Noir occasionally makes an appearance to draw the main attention of the media away. The tabloids enjoy any tidbit that they can get and the superhero of Paris is always the first priority, even if Chat Noir and Adrien Agreste are the same person.

A tired, happy Adrien finds his way back to Paris. He heads out to meet Ladybug the next day, an apology ready on his lips. He's almost late, though, and in his haste, he forgets to spray his hair with black paint and get Plagg to give him a sore throat. When he gets to the warehouse, though, Ladybug's not there yet, so he tucks his hair more securely under his cap and coughs quickly to give his voice a raspy quality. By the time he's done, there's a red blur flying through the air and landing onto the ground in front of him.

"Where've you been?" She sounds annoyed. He looks up, and her lips are quirked together.

"Gone on a trip," he apologizes. "Sorry, I barely got a last minute notice before I was taken away."

She opens her mouth as if to say something, but closes it and presses her lips together. "Nothing you can do about it, then."

He nods. "I'm really sorry. I'll try to get word to you earlier next time."

He tries, he really does. But it's a hot season for fashion, and an even hotter season for designers, so he's whisked away again and again, multiple times in a month to do various shoots and fittings. There's also his non-profit to take care of, so he goes on a publicity route to promote his organization. All in all, he's gone for most of the summer, taken away at a minute's notice.

Ladybug's fed up with his absences the third time in a month that he's gone. She slaps a slip of paper into his hand after their meeting. It's got a phone number and a name scrawled on it, as well as a note telling him to give her a text before he has to leave next time. He's pretty sure it's not her real phone number, but he feels warm inside at the thought of her trusting him enough to even give him a phone number.

He inputs it into his phone and saves it LB, less chance for his friends to find out about his midnight meetings.

Adrien tries to avoid using the number as often as he can; he doesn't want to bother her too often. He still drops most of his notices by in person, but when he really can't make it, he texts her. It's convenient since he already sends Master Fu a copy of his schedule anyways.

They get closer. She sends back gifs and bad puns to him, and he retaliates with cat pictures. Their routine feels comfortable, like a worn sweater that he'd suddenly picked up after years of no contact. He thinks they could be called friends.

One day, in the midst of all of his absences from Paris, she end up complaining about her extra workload. Every time Chat Noir is gone, Ladybug has to pick up his slack, so she's been patrolling three days a week for another two hours on top of her nighttime routines. She can't do it anymore, she confesses to him over text. Fashion season is on the rise, so her job demands increasingly long hours that she must fulfill and the longer patrols keep her awake far into the night. Apparently, she hasn't been sleeping.

Adrien feels horrible. He didn't mean to cause her so much stress, and he doesn't want to even contemplate the number of times she's had to fight an akuma alone. He's pretty sure she's still trying to avoid the media, but if the attacks were happening in daylight, as he knew they were, then the paparazzi were probably chasing her down after every fight.

He sends a frowning face and a sorry, hoping that she'll feel better.

 _Hey_ , she sends one day. _Isn't it funny that Chat Noir's absences and yours are synchronized?_

 _Really? You don't say,_ he taps out. _Not like I pay attention to superheroes or anything._

 _Yes, you don't. Just like how you always don't know that I'm patrolling out at midnight._

 _Just you,_ he sends back. He resists the urge to add "milady" to the end of it, sure that she wouldn't like the reminder of what had been with Chat Noir.

 _You know, I can almost tell when Chat's going to leave when you leave._ There's a pause before a chat bubble pops up, and the three dots blink up at him. Adrien feels chills go down his spine. He's worried that she'll find out who he is.

 _He's a model, right?_ He sends in an effort to throw her off his trail.

 _Adrien Agreste, I think. Very much in demand. Much like you._ The messages come quickly, one after the other.

He laughs nervously, and then sends a confused emoji. _What do you mean? I'm away for business._

 _That's probably it._ It's the only text that comes back. He waits, but Ladybug's decided to be silent on her end. He's not sure what to do if she finds out about his identity.

She finds out.

* * *

A/N: That line about Google translate and VPN? That's totally me when I'm there :).


	8. Chapter 8

There's an furious Ladybug waiting for him at his apartment when he returns home from yet another trip. She's standing in front of his doorway in her suit, and he spots her when he steps out of the elevator.

"Ladybug?" He attempts to sound shocked as he quickly pats his hair down in an effort to tell Plagg to stay hidden.

"Adrien Agreste." He's never heard colder words come out of her mouth.

"What are you doing here? You know there's a lot of paparazzi, and they're all trying to get a glimpse of you." He walks towards her, feigning ignorance.

"I know. There's an urgent problem that's come up, so I was wondering if we could discuss in your apartment?"

He doesn't think it's the best idea. If there's fight, media will catch Ladybug jumping out from Adrien Agreste's window, and bits of ruined furniture following her. But she looks so angry, her eyes flashing and her face stiff, so he lets her into his home.

"Would you like a drink?" he asks. "Just let me put my bags away and I'll get it for you."

Ladybug nods. "If you have tea, that'd be great."

"Alright. I'll put the kettle on." He sets up the kettle and reaches inside his cupboard for two mugs. He takes the green and gold ones and sets them on the table, and then pulls out a container of loose-leaf tea, a gift from Marinette the last time she came. It's a box of Dragon Well tea from six months ago, still relatively fresh.

They say nothing as they wait for the water to boil. Adrien sets out a plate of Camembert cheese for Plagg to eat in his room. The black spirit begins to eat as Adrien heads towards the living room. There's a tension in the air that Adrien doesn't like.

The kettle whistles. He pours the tea into two mugs and sprinkles some tea leaves into the water. Adrien brings out the mugs on a platter, along with some milk and sugar, and hands a mug to Ladybug.

She takes it with a whisper of thanks, and then settles back into the couch. They sip in silence for a moment. The scene is oddly familiar, but he doesn't know why.

"What was the problem you came to tell me about?" Adrien asks. If Ladybug says that it's urgent, it probably is.

"Yes. I was wondering if you know about the midnight visitor I get." He sighs softly. She suspects something. He decides to play dumb, though, hoping that perhaps she'd give up if he didn't give her an easy answer.

"Midnight visitor? Ladybug, I don't think I know someone who does that."

"I think you do." Her voice goes hard. She leans forward and sets the mug of tea down. "After all, your absences match my visitor's."

"They do?" He wrinkles his brow. "Ladybug, have you been tracking my presence through the media? That isn't a reliable source of information. You're probable wrong."

"I have my sources, and they're accurate." She looks straight at him.

"If you can't reveal them to me, then I'm afraid that falls under stalking charges. I'll have to call my security." He stands up to lead her to the door. "This way, please."

She plants her foot down. "Cut the crap, Chat! You know exactly who I'm talking about! The visitor's you!"

"So you know who I was all that time, and you never let on knowing anything else. Were you playing with me?" His voice feels jagged and raw in his throat. "Seeing how much you could make the kitty hurt this time around?"

She flinches. "No! I-I didn't know until today."

"Really? But you must've known that Adrien Agreste is Chat Noir! It's been plastered all over the city for years, and I've revealed myself to you at least once recently. Ever thought about contacting me?"

"As if you wanted me to call you," she spits out. "You haven't even called me once all this time!"

"You know, considering that you're the one who left, I would think that common courtesy dictates you to call. Where was the note when the media exploded about Agreste being Chat Noir three years ago? You could've just dropped by with a note or something, telling me that you've given up being Ladybug and returning the Miraculous. That would've saved me the stress and the pain of _waiting_!" He's spitting with anger by now.

Another thought occurs to him. "And how did you find out where I live? What, did you follow me back home?"

"Of course I did!" Her voice wavers. Her eyes flick to the spot above his head and back down to his eyes. She's lying.

"You didn't," he retorts. "I _checked._ "

"Then you didn't check very well, then," she huffed, crossing her arms across her chest.

"Master Fu would have never given you my address without my consent." He takes a deep breath. "Who are you?" There it was, the million-dollar question, the one he's been waiting to ask for years. "Who are you, really?"

There's a sharp intake of breath. "No one you need to know."

"I don't think so," he hisses. "I think I have a right to know who's under that mask."

"No-no one," she repeats again. "My identity isn't important."

"So you'll just leave me again without a goodbye? Make it easier on your conscience when Chat Noir can't track you down?"

"What? I'm not leaving this time!"

"I find that hard to believe, seeing how you left for five years and ignored me for the remaining year you were back." He shrugs, resigned. "There's no need to tell me, anyway. We'll be leaving each other soon enough."

"What do you mean?" she whispers.

"Didn't Master Fu tell you? I've been thinking of giving up the Miraculous. It's time we passed them down to the next generation."

There's a pause. And then suddenly, fierce "No!" erupts from her. "You can't leave!"

"Then what should I do? Stay and let you hurt me even more?" He passes a weary hand over his face. "Besides, my life is getting busier. I just don't have enough time anymore. I'm guessing you're going through something similar. We're adults, Ladybug. Time to _grow up._ "

"I did! Why do you think I came back?" She looks intense, furious.

"Why do you think I stayed?" He fires back.

She doesn't say anything.

"We don't even have to hold the training sessions at the same time," he says instead. "They can easily be separate."

Ladybug collapses onto the sofa. "I don't want you to leave."

"I don't think I want to stay much longer. Please leave, Ladybug. I think we're done discussing."

She stands up numbly. When they're almost to the door, he realizes that she never told him how she knew where he lived. "How did you know where I live?"

She smiles sadly. "Then you would have to know who I am, wouldn't you?" She searches his face. "Promise you won't run away?"

Why was she telling him now? "Promise. You sure you won't bolt?"

A tear falls. "I promise." She takes a deep breath. Instead of releasing the transformation as he expects, she begins talking. "You know, when I first disappeared, I regretted it so much. I was afraid of the responsibility I had, so I escaped. I wanted to go back, but I wasn't sure if you'd want me there. One month turned to a year, a year into four. When I'd visit Paris, I'd avoid you. It was even worse when I learned who you were Chat Noir.

"My friends would help me. I used to have the biggest crush on you, you know. I couldn't stand seeing the look on your face, so I didn't." She looks away. "I thought I'd gotten over that crush, but when you bumped into me and helped me pick up my things, it all came rushing back to be. I think seeing you at the interview made it even worse. My infatuation was as big as ever. Bigger, I think. You looked so handsome standing there."

An interview? Something stirs at the back of Adrien's mind.

She continues. "And then you had to be so nice and come to the group outing, even when I ignored you all those years. I enjoyed them much more than I let on. I looked forward to every Saturday, every conversation. And the puns and the gifs in our texts? They were the best. I saved every single one of them. I still have them on my phone.

"I liked you so, so much. And then you just had to go and reciprocate and all I could think about was the look on your face when you found out that I'd already abandoned you years ago, just under a different name. I couldn't do it, dating you knowing that I was deceiving you all the time. So I left you again."

A key clicks the lock and settles into place. He knows her like the back of her hand.

She begins to cry, crumpling into . " _Again._ I left you _again_ even though I swore to myself that I wouldn't. Who does that?"

He opened his mouth to comfort her, but she barrels on. Instead, he puts his arms around her and guides her back to the sofa, wrapping a blanket around her shoulder. He pushes the lukewarm mug of tea back into her hands.

"And you were still so nice afterwards. I was already taking on some of your duties as Chat Noir by that point, so when a civilian who'd been hit by an akuma's powers showed up to warn me that Chat Noir was out of commission, I thought nothing about it. It'd happened a few times before, but then, when I found you again later that night, you had the strangest sore throat. You have no idea how tempted I was to hand you a pack of cough drops."

Her crying worsens. "You kept meeting me and keeping me company. I had no idea you were Chat Noir or Adrien Agreste; I just thought you were an unusually curious civilian who spared a thought for a lonely ladybug. One of the few civilians who didn't despise me. I hated your absences," she adds venomously. "I had no one to talk to, so I gave you my phone number in hopes you would text. But then I started adding up your absences to another schedule I had, which tipped me off to your identity." There's a pause, and then says, "So here we are now."

"Here we are now," he echoes. Here we are indeed.

They fall silent. Marinette's sobbing had lessened into shaking, which gradually faded away. The tea on the table is cold by the time she lifts her head. Her eyes are rimmed with red and tears.

"Thanks for all of this," she says hollowly. Marinette releases the transformation in a flash of light, leaving her in a sheer top and shorts. She gets up and folds the blanket, and then takes the mug of tea to the sink. The sound of tap water hitting the ceramic jolts Adrien out of his reverie.

"Hey, no need," he follows her to the kitchenette.

She shakes her head. "It's the least I can do, anyways." She mechanically reaches for the dish towel to dry it off and places it back in into its cupboard. The ceramic clinks on the wood. The air is silent.

Marinette turns towards the door. "I'll be going, then." Her steps are quiet on the hardwood floor. He thinks that if she walks out of his apartment now, he'll probably never see her again. And despite the betrayal he feels, he likes being with her. She's the same person he knows, whether she's Marinette or Ladybug. He still wants her in his life.

"Wait!" At the sound of his voice, she turns around and pauses. "Do-do you think we'll still be friends after this?"

Her expression brightens. "We can?"

"I'd really like that," he says.

"Yeah," she murmurs softly. "Me too."

He hugs her at the door and then she leaves. By then, it's time for his patrol, but he doesn't feel up to it. Instead, he stays home and watches a movie, processing the information. Then, he sends a text to Marinette.

 _Want to meet up next Saturday?_

A text comes back five minutes later. _Sure. Same time, same place?_

 _Sounds good,_ he taps out. _I love that café._

In the morning, there's a new message from Marinette. _I know._

* * *

A/N: Out of curiosity, what do you like to do with your free time? I like to sleep and walk. Oh, and write stuff online.


	9. Chapter 9

It's an awkward meeting at the café. Neither of them quite know what to do, which leads to aborted movements and endless silences. Marinette curls up on herself, scared of being so emotionally vulnerable, while Adrien stares at his hands, searching for what to say.

It takes an unusually curious cat and a pigeon with a insatiable love of pastries to break the ice. The pigeon first makes off with Marinette's éclair, dunking in one end in Adrien's coffee before flying away. A white and golden tabby leaps for the bobbing treat, only to land one paw in Adrien's hot drink. It yowls, surprised, and then proceeds to slip on the smooth table, tipping the coffee, table, and itself onto Adrien.

Adrien doesn't think. Before he's pinned to the ground by a yowling feline and trapped in a chair, he transforms into Chat Noir and leaps out of the way, propelling himself skyward with his baton. He stays at the top, waiting for the cat to pick its way out, before slowly descending with (attempted) dignity. Marinette looks like she's caught halfway between shock and laughter, so she just attempts to smother her face with her hands. He does catch sight of a phone lying next to her, camera app open, no doubt having captured several incriminating photos already.

Fans are already swarming, running up to Chat Noir to get pictures and autographs signed. It's always a bigger crowd with Chat Noir, probably because Chat rarely makes publicity appearances. He's overwhelmed under the pens and phones, and it takes several local patrol officers to get the crowd under control. They corral the fans away from Chat, allowing Adrien to make a hasty exit. He catches Marinette's eye and they disappear together into the streets.

"Send those to me," he tells her, waving at her phone.

She adopts an innocent look. "You mean those greatly flattering photos of you?"

"Yes," he snorts. "Because apparently models look good from any angle."

"I used to think that too," Marinette says, "but these have definitely disproved that theory." She taps something, and few seconds later, the photos show up in his phone.

He scrolls through them, wincing at each one. The first one features his face in a picture of shock at the sight of the pigeon's flapping wings. The second one focuses on his terror as the tabby slipped in coffee, and the third is a blur of transformation. There's a short video, too, of Chat jumping ship and taking refuge in his baton.

"I hope that isn't horribly potrayed on the internet," he comments.

"You'll probably become a meme, with a caption like "when bae steals your last slice of pizza" or something similar."

"I refuse to believe it."

"Face it, Adrien, this is just too good of an opportunity to pass up."

He sighs. "Oh my god. My flawless face, marred forever by a pigeon."

"Well, we all knew it would happen someday," she bumps his arm playfully. "As demises go, it's not too bad."

"Someone save me," he heralds to the sky. "Before it's too late."

Marinette snorts. "Don't you know? It's _already_ too late." She waves her phone. Apparently, #TransformIntoChat is trending on twitter, and the comments are blowing up the internet.

"Oh god," he moans. "I can never show my face here again."

"Of course not. You only have to wait for the next photoshoot, where the photographer will take ridiculously good pictures of you and this will be all forgotten."

"You've got a point," he concedes. They walk in amiable silence down the streets, parting ways at an intersection to go back to their respective homes.

There's residues of awkwardness left in their interactions, but for the most part, they're back to where they used to be: firmly in the good friend category. Adrien tries not to read too much into Marinette's touches, knowing that they're meant to be friendly and that neither of them are ready for a romantic relationship with each other, but he fails spectacularly at it. He tries to convince himself that it's not a good idea to keep crushing on someone who has a history of leaving (him, his traitorous mind adds), but it's a futile endeavor. There's a quiet fire burning in him every time they meet, which only grows the more they talk.

::

Adrien has still decided to retire from a life of Chat Noir. He talks to Master Fu about it, who nods his head and starts making the preparations. He discusses it with Alya and Nino, who nod and empathize with his decision. He waits a while before bringing it up with Marinette, knowing her personal feelings on the matter.

It's their first big fight as friends again. He doesn't know why she wants him to stay doing something that taxes him so much. She doesn't know why he ever wants to leave. He tells her that it wouldn't have to be the end for her, that Ladybug is perfectly capable as a solo fighter and that Master Fu would guide her through it. Even when Adrien retires, it wouldn't be the end of Chat Noir and Ladybug as they know it. Adrien's in line to be the next guardian of the kwami and they can train the next miraculous pair together if the kwamis are still needed.

She tells Adrien it's not the same without him. Even when they aren't partners now, knowing that he's out there, working for the same cause, reassures her and gives her confidence. He tells her that Master Fu will be her back-up for when he's gone, and that the old man is more than capable of the task. After all, Adrien has firsthand experience. He even offers to train a compatible Chat Noir if she wanted a partner that badly, but she refuses. Adrien, she maintains, is the only Chat Noir for her.

He can't make her understand. It'll be just a bit different, he tells her. She'll still be able to do the things she loves with a partner she'll love. She doesn't get it. Just doesn't get it. There's a silence, a week of it, before they manage to meet up to discuss it again.

Adrien can see why Marinette doesn't want him to leave. She's only just returned to a role that's scared her and she wants the familiarity of what happened before. It'll be hard, adjusting to another person as her partner. But Adrien's done it for ten years now. He's given a decade of his life to protecting the city, and he doesn't want to anymore. As a guardian in training, it'll be a while before needs to take a largely active role. He tells her this again, and she nods and tells him she understands. But she's scared of what the future will hold.

She doesn't need to be scared. He'll be there for her. She'll be there for him. They have their friends and their guardians. She won't be alone.

::

They take their places at each other's sides after a long while, after they know that they won't leave. A warm feeling settles into Adrien's chest.

* * *

"Chat, Chat, Chat!" A superhero in a spotted suit runs squealing towards his partner.

"What?" She snaps. "What is it this time?"

"I just thought of another pun," he says happily. "Want to hear what it is?"

"I'm dying from the suspense."

"I'm totally _bugging_ you right now, aren't I?" There's an unholy look of glee on Ladybug's face.

"Hurry up and tell me the pun," she grumbles. A short pause, and then – "Oh my god, Ladybug, I'm going to kill you!"

Ladybug shrieks in delight. "No need, Chat! No need at all!" He swings his yo-yo onto the nearest pole and leaps off the building. "I'm going to just borrow a few of your nine lives for a while!"

His partner winces and follows. "Just you wait!"

Adrien and Marinette watch from below. "They're not doing too badly," Adrien comments to Marinette.

She snorts. "Just wait until we put them through the ringer of an obstacle course."

"Yeah, that might be a problem." He shrugs. "Hey! Ladybug and Chat Noir!" The two superheroes land on a building and swing back.

"Come on, just a few more minutes?" Ladybug pleads.

"Can't," Marinette shakes her head. "Anymore fooling around and we're going to have to limit these training sessions to even less time."

"Hey Ladybug," Adrien tells the young boy.

"Yeah?"

"I think you missed something when you told Chat that pun."

"What?"

"That she's having kittens about it."

"Adrien!"

He smiles. "And now you're being catty?"

Marinette and Chat chase him as he runs down the sidewalk, laughing all the while.

* * *

A/N: Last chapter! Thank you so much for reading and following and reviewing and answering my silly questions. I'm going to miss talking with you guys :(. Thoughts, feelings? Tell me please!


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